Bipolar disorder tagged posts

Brain composition and bipolar disorder. MRI studies . Credit: Bipolar Lives.

Naturally occurring changes in brain wiring can help patients at high genetic risk of developing bipolar disorder avert the onset of the illness, according to a new study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The study’s findings open up new avenues for researchers to explore ways the brain can prevent disease expression, also known as resilience, with the hope of developing better treatments.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes fluctuations in patients’ mood, energy, activity levels and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Bipolar disorder is highly heritable.

Researchers used MRI to map the connectivity patterns in the brain...

Ebselen affects the phosphoinositide cycle and has CNS effects on surrogate markers that may be relevant to the treatment of bipolar disorder, which can be tested in future clinical trials.

A drug destined for the scrap heap has been rescued by Oxford scientists. They used a database of ‘failed’ drugs, found to be safe but ineffective for their proposed use, to identify ebselen as a possible alternative to lithium, the main treatment for people who are bipolar.

Ebselen was under development as a treatment for stroke, but was abandoned by its manufacturer in the final phase of clinical trials. However, those trials proved that the drug was safe for use in humans. Initial tests of ebselen as a treatment for bipolar disorder were carried out in mice...